Seabrook fireboat ‘Miss Lois’ to be replaced

Published 6:00 pm, Thursday, January 7, 2010

“Miss Lois’’ has lost her luster. Her engines are weary, and her wooden hull is rotting.

Seabrook’s 24-year-old fire boat, named after Lois Mohrhusen, a former Seabrook councilwoman whose late husband, Fred Mohrhusen, was a past commodore of the Lakewood Yacht Club, is nearing retirement.

Ray Cook, chief of the Seabrook Volunteer Fire Department, gave a slide presentation to City Council this week, showing the history of “Miss Lois.’’ “She’s reached the end of her life,’’ he said.

Council approved spending up to $650,000 for a fire and rescue boat. The money will come out of bond money approved in 2005.

Council also voted, with Councilman Don Holbrook opposed and Councilman Thom Kolupski abstaining, to approve an interpretation of the Seabrook City Charter as "not prohibiting council members from discussing any and all facts or communications made the basis of the executive session on September 15, 2009".

That was the same meeting that former Councilman Tom Diegelman resigned.

“You are opening up a can of worms where you could affect people’s rights in the future,’’ Holbrook said before casting his no vote.

Also this week, Council appointed:

- Nancy Jones to the Community Events Committee

- John Coggeshall and Robert Duncan to the Open Space Committee

- Cody Wilson to the Public Safety Committee

- New Councilman Kolupski as a representative on the Clear Lake Emergency Medical Corps and on the Clear Lake Area Chamber of Commerce.